Study Desk

What then shall we say?^(bc) That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;^(bd)

but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness,^(be) have not attained their goal.^(bf)

Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.^(bg)

As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame."^[m](bh)

Brothers and sisters, my heart's desire^(a) and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.

For I can testify about them that they are zealous^(b) for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.

Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.^(c)

Christ is the culmination of the law^(d) so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.^(e)